Disabled-Rights Bill To Bar Bias by Private Schools

Washington--Private, nonsectarian schools--including those that
accept no federal funds--would be barred from discriminating against
the handicapped in employment and other areas under a bill moving
quickly through the Congress.

The Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee unanimously approved
the proposed "Americans with disabilities act" on Aug. 2. The 16-0 vote
came only hours after Bush Administration officials and Senate leaders
reached a compromise on the measure.

The measure would prohibit discrimination against the
disabled--including victims of aids or those infected with the virus
that causes the disease--in private employment, public and private
accommodations, and transportation.

Under the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, public schools and
other agencies that accept federal funds are barred from discriminating
against the handicapped in employment and are required to make their
buildings accessible to disabled people.

The proposed bill would extend those requirements for the first time
to a broader segment of society, including private, nonreligious
preschools, precollegiate schools, and colleges and universities.

Robert Silverstein, a Senate aide who helped draft the bill, said
private, nonsectarian schools would be covered under both the
legislation's public-accommodations sections and its employment
sections.

This would mean, for example, that private schools could be found to
discriminate if they fail to hire qualified handicapped job applicants,
if they set eligibility standards for students that tend to screen out
disabled individuals, or if they fail to provide elevators in buildings
of more than two stories.

It would also mean that private schools may have to buy buses with
wheelchair lifts or other alterations necessary to accommodate disabled
passengers. And public telephones in the schools would have to have
special devices for hearing-impaired users.

Employers with fewer than 25 workers would not be affected by the
law during its first two years. Thereafter, only employers with fewer
than 15 employees would be exempt.

The bill provides a strong legal recourse to handicapped individuals
who believe they have been discriminated against.

"We're watching it very carefully," said Joyce McCray, executive
director of the Council on Private Education. "We obviously have very
positive feelings about the purpose of the bill. But, certainly, we
have schools that are going to suffer great hardship if the timetable
is too demanding."

Ms. McCray said she was pleased that the compromise bill reported
out of the Senate committee contained language that indicated some
flexibility on the part of lawmakers.

The bill stipulates, for example, that private entities would be
required to remove architectural barriers only when such a change is
"readily achievable."

An earlier version of the bill also would have covered
church-affiliated schools--a provision that prompted objections from a
number of religious organizations, including the U.S. Catholic
Conference.

Mr. Silverstein said religious entities were removed from the bill
during last-minute negotiations with the Administration.

A companion bill in the House would still apply to religious
schools, Ms. McCray said. But that bill must make its way through four
subcommittees, and some House subcommittee aides said they expect the
bill, in its final form, to closely resemble the Senate measure.

The Senate committee's vote was hailed by advocates for the disabled
and by civic and civil-rights organizations. More than 200 groups
support the measure.

Handicapped citizens were not among the groups protected by the
landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. And advocates for the handicapped
have lobbied since then to extend the same benefits to the
disabled.

"For 25 years, our handicapped citizens have been outside the
umbrella of basic civil rights," said Senator Tom Harkin, the Iowa
Democrat who sponsored the Senate bill. "Today, we bring them in."

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